<p>I’m just wondering what you think about my daughter’s summer job, especially if you are a civil engineer. My daughter is a junior, and had an internship lined up this summer with a local firm. Due to the downturn in the economy, the firm decided not to hire any interns this summer.</p>
<p>So, rather than work at the mall, my daughter decided to help one of her profs with a research project. I’m not an engineer, so I can’t explain the project very well, but I know that it involves breaking up concerte and examining it. </p>
<p>She wears a hard hat, steel toe boats, and is the only girl working on this project. She absolutely loves this. The university is paying her $5 an hour (I think that is correct). </p>
<p>I don’t know, so I’m asking…Is this something that will look good on her resume? I really, really want her to graduate next year and find a job that has a medical plan, and a 401K (profit sharing and dental would be nice too). I though civil engineers worked in offices with blue prints and stuff like that.</p>
<p>That is a good experience for someone in civil. The civil folks tend to “get their hands dirty” more than a lot of the other engineering types. They have to do site surveys sometimes and interpret conditions and that can only be done in the field. Most of their time will be in the office, but the willingness to “get dirty” always looks good.</p>
<p>Of course it will look good. Experience in the trenches always looks good. How could it not? I’m not a civil engineer, but this isn’t rocket science!</p>
<p>What’s the big deal with someone dressing appropriately for a job? My husband, also an engineer, wears a lab jacket, steel toed shoes and safety googles everyday as do most of the people in his plant.</p>
<p>I worked as a technician for the Soil Conservation Service 25 years ago and was the only female that wasn’t a secretary and enjoyed wearing comfy boots and clothes to work outside daily. Much easier then selecting an “outfit.”</p>
<p>I would say that any job this summer is a good one and one in her given field is wonderful.</p>
<p>Great experience! Hands-on experience is typically missing from the resumes of recent grads and will be very valuable. As will the experience with the “guys-on-the-job”.</p>
<p>And a hard-hat is such a fashion statement…I know…I keep one in my car. There are “professional clothes” days and then there are “field clothes” days.</p>
<p>That sounds like an awesome job/experience for your daughter. My niece is on her second “hard hat” summer as an engineering student and loves it. They do some work with soil or something, but go to all these construction sites. Last summer she had to haul around some big piece of equipment in her car all summer.</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds awesome. She’s about to compete in a largely male-dominated field, so having this experience will be a great way to show that she’s not too “girly” for the job. Besides, after manual labor for a summer I bet she’s more enthused about getting that degree than ever!</p>
<p>My D works full time for a civil engineering firm(while she is waiting to start grad school in the Fall). Firms actively seek out grads who also have “hands on” experience out in the field. Your D’s opportunity sounds great!! The nice clothes will still come in handy for her interviews. Congrats----Civil engineering is a great field to be in right now.</p>
<p>I guess I should have used one of those emotion icons because I am not upset at all about the clothes. And, I never thought this would happened, but my daughter has totally eclipsed me in the areas of intelligence and feminism. That’s a good thing, right? But when the heck did that happen?</p>
<p>wolfpackmom…hmmm, nice name…DH majored in Mech. Eng. at your D’s sch (I presume). He spent the summer after soph. year doing construction work on a local hospital there, dirty work being a gopher for the guys who really knew what they were doing. After junior yr., he worked at a nuclear power plant, long hours and more dirty work. At the end of senior yr, he had five or six job offers from businesses in the power generation industry. He was certain that his dirty work jobs were influential in his getting hired for his first engineeting job. Twenty eight years later, he still works for that company. Good for your D.</p>
<p>Absolutely good for your D especially if she’s interested in civil engineering. Many types of engineers start in the field, my sister (an engineer) drove around for three or four years with her white hard hat sitting in the rear of her car when she started out. She was one of the only girls in her graduating class and still “hangs with the boys” at her job thirty years later though these days she sits in an office.</p>
<p>Yeay to your daughter. She turned a set back into an opportunity. Nothing is more appealing to an engineer boss than an accomplished engineering grad – female at that – with hard hat experience. I say that as the daughter/sister/aunt in a family filled with engineers, both students and bosses.</p>
<p>Working for a large construction company, we hire civil engineers, architects, structural engineers, etc., who decide that what they really want is to work in an exciting field and NOT be behind a computer or drafting table for the rest of their career. Perhaps your daughter will decide to, as we say with a wink, leave the dark side and come to the light!</p>
<p>Seriously, it sounds like a great opportunity for your daughter. Congrats to you for raising a woman who can not just survive, but thrive in a made-dominated field.</p>
<p>toblin, i think we got a little off topic here. in my original post, i was wondering if this hard hat work would look good on a resume, as i really want my daughter to get a good job after graduation. i was under the impression that ce worked with blue prints and stuff like that, not in the field. basically, i wanted to know if this type of work was just a waste of time. i asked, because i really did not know.</p>
<p>Good for her!
Gee, when I donned a hard-hat and light and went into mines in the 70’s I kind of thought that science and engineering jobs would be evenly divided by sex in another 5 or so years…</p>
Experience in the trenches always looks good. How could it not? I’m not a civil engineer, but this isn’t rocket science!</p>